As with his first book (Marshall Armstrong is New to Our School), David Mackintosh's second release delivers another terrific take on a person who doesn't conform to the social norms. Instead of the new kid at school, this one deals with the generation gap between a boy and his odd grandfather.

A young boy has to talk about one of his family members for show-and-tell, but his parents are too busy and his sister is only a baby. That leaves only one person, his grandpa, Frank. "Frank is old. He doesn't like noise, or today's music, or gadgets and gizmos (or new things), or haircuts, or weather, or doctors or any sort of ice cream that isn't vanilla." But much to the narrator's surprise, Frank turns out to be a more interesting character than he would have guessed, winning everybody over.

My whole family really digs David Mackintosh's work. He's got an excellent sense of design, mixing collage and ink illustrations with fun typography, and his narratives are smart, funny, and written with a wonderful touch of empathy for the lives of little kids.